Promises
by midnite-republic
Summary: Promises are made and kept (or not). (20 Years at Sea, Day 12)
1. Luffy, Zoro & Nami

A/N: For the 20 Years at Sea event over on Tumblr, Day 12: Promises (cross-posted). I could have kept going with this one, but decided to stop it there. Maybe one day I'll get back to this and do the rest (but not for a while at least).

* * *

 **Promises**

Luffy had made many promises in his life.

He had promised to grow strong and form a crew stronger than even Shanks'. He had promised to become Pirate King and take care of Shanks' hat and give it back when he was done.

He had promised that he would love and be the best little brother he could for his big brothers. He had promised also that Sabo would never be forgotten.

He had promised each of his crew that they were his, his friends. He had promised to that he would take care of their dreams and help each one of them reach them. He had promised not to get between Zoro and his goal to be to Greatest Swordsman. He had promised to protect Nami's smile. He had promised to protect them and to come after them if they left without wanting to. He had promised to come back to them when they had separated, that they would journey on together again (he just knew that they all needed a little more time before that could happen).

He had promised that he would save Ace, but he hadn't been able to.

(Ace had made a promise too. Had promised Luffy he would not die.

But he had also made a promise that predated that one, to a brother he thought forever lost. That he would protect their baby brother and that was the one he needed to keep the most. Because what would his life mean if he didn't keep it.)

* * *

Zoro didn't make promises lightly and he always kept them when he did. Though occasionally along the way the meanings behind them changed slightly and his personal code changed the outcomes.

He had promised that he would become the World's Greatest Swordsman, that he and Kuina would battle for the title. Now he would still be the Greatest but instead of battling his rival, he would carry her spirit and blade into his challenge for the title. He would make his name reach the heavens to ensure she knew that their dream was accomplished.

He had promised to join Luffy's crew, but he had also promised that should the rubberman get between his and his dream, he'll kill him. He would be a pirate but on his own terms. (And now his dream was so entangled with his Captain's it would be impossible for him to do so.)

He had promised his Captain (his King, for all that no-one had yet realised that was what he was yet) that he would never lose. He had not broken that promise, for all the Curly-brow had once brought it up, because he two of them knew it only applied to swordsmen/women, so the devil fruit morons that had knocked him down didn't count, not that they had kept him down long. (The taining with Mihawk didn't either; spars, not battle.)

The swordsman had also promised his crew that he would protect them as best he could. But that he would also push them to grow stronger for themselves and the crew as a whole. He and the other frontline fighters had their own battles to fight, and they each had their own potential that would be stifled if he continued to stand between them and what came at them.

He had promised that even though they were an unusual crew, with unusual dynamics, in some things their Captain needed to be respected. As painful as a decision may be to the crew, if it came down to it and Luffy made a decision, it was to be understood and followed. New crewmates could be tested to ensure they met the standards of the crew, loyalty wise, but somethings concerning safety of the crew could not be laughed off and ignored.

Zoro had promised that he would return to the crew, stronger and more prepared for the new calibre of enemies they would fight in the New World. Ready to sail on, journeying together. Whole again to show them all who the King truly was.

(Kuina had made promises to him as well. That she would join him on the journey to the top of the world of swordsman/womanship. That she would prove that women could have incredible sword craft, and hold their own in the world. Then she had died and left him only able to help with one part of her dream.

Zoro had to wait for the Copycat Marine to grow and prove herself to prove to the world the other part. Because as much as it annoyed him to admit it, she did have the skill if she stopped worrying so much about his reaction to her, and how the world currently saw her and actually reach for the top.)

* * *

Nami had made and broken a lot of promises in her life. She had been a thief and all but alone in enemy territory for years after all. But she had attempted to

She had promised that she would make the money to buy her town back from the monsters that had taken her mother from her. She had almost done so too, before the bastard pulled his little stunt.

She had promised a lot of things to her victims when she was stealing to make up the ransom. Very rarely had she ever come through on them though, they hadn't been of any consequence to her except to keep in mind in case she came across them again.

She had promised to navigate the Straw-Hat ship through any seas they ever decided to cross. This she kept in the most surprising of ways, up mountains, up a vertical current, on cloud-seas, through random storms and sunny days that suddenly changed weather every two seconds. But she had kept it (and she will continue to do so for as long as she is able).

She had promised to chart a map of the world. A dream she had once given up hope for, but she had sworn it again in the fall of her nightmare and again at the end of the East. It will take time, but with the help of her crew she'll get there.

She had promised that she would re-join the crew, separated as it was at the time. Follow he Captain's order and learn all she could where she was in the time he had given them and then join them all back at Shabody to travel under the sea.

(Arlong had promised that he would set her and her village free as soon as she came up with the money to pay for it. The bastard had gone back on his promise, even as he wheedled his way around it when she accused him of it.

But it hadn't mattered, because Luffy had already made a promise she hadn't realised at the time. He had promised that he was her friend, had promised his and the crew's strength to help her and he didn't back out on his promises unless he was forced to.)


	2. Usopp, Sanji & Chopper

A/N: I didn't spend all day writing this instead of the new chapter of First Mate at all. In my defense I currently have a desk full of notes for various fics and chapters I want to get out before life drags me under again. Almost had to rewrite a big chunk of Sanji's part because I forgot when I had set this, but I was so tempted to go with the original plan anyway.  
Thanks for the faves and follows on this, no promises on when the last one will come though.  
sharingankakashi007: Thanks.  
Black' Victor Cachat: I think I just forgot that one, I'm pretty sure I had the same reaction to it though. Thanks.

* * *

Usopp was a liar and often didn't realise that anything he said, or did, was a promise. He didn't even realise that his actions themselves could even be seen as a promise. When he did knowingly make a promise, it was too often something he knew in the back of his head that he couldn't back up. Exaggerating his capabilities to try and make himself sound more of the brave warrior of the seas, more powerful. To make himself feel like all of this was true, to make him feel a little better about himself.

So, he lied, he made the promise to the village that pirates were coming, to try and make his mother feel better, to hold on longer. Then when she was gone, he continued again and again until the village no longer believed any promise from him, even when it was true.

He promised them again and again that he would be a brave warrior of the sea, that he would head out and maybe even come across his father on the waves. They didn't really believe he would do it, and he wondered about their reactions when they realised that he had gone.

(He promised Kaya that one day she would get better. That the grief and illness that had overcome her at her parents' deaths would not feel as heavy someday. This was one promise, of all the ones he had made on that island, he hoped had been believed.)

When he boarded the Going Merry, he made two promises. One, very loudly worded to Kaya, that he would take care of her gift to them. This was something that he didn't even the realise at the time that the seas and adventures would force him to break. But the realisation that he had lead him to break the other he had made that same moment.

The other promise was a silent, action-based one that took a while and him obliterating it to even realise he had made. To serve the Captain as a member of his crew. The crew were not just his friends that he was adventuring with, he was not the captain as he like to pretend he was. He was just a crew member and even on their weird crew there was still a hierarchy of command, even if they didn't often act on it. Usopp wasn't even close to the top of it.

So, on exchange for his return to the crew, he bowed his head and promised to never again forget his place on the crew. He was the sniper and had promised to be the best on he could be.

Usopp had promised to regroup with the crew, taking the time between then and now to get strong enough to at least not slow them down as they all moved forward together. He would not walk away from the crew again, would be there to help with a story, or a lie, or a projectile when his Captain need him again.

(He vaguely remembered warm hugs, smelling of gunpowder and medicine and the whispered promises in a deep voice that he was loved and they would see him again, that his mum would be there for him. But his mum lost her fight with her illness and despite what he always believed, Luffy had told him that his dad had at least been in the East Blue ten years ago had hadn't visited their island.

But that didn't matter because his crew had promised to meet up again, and they would be there. This was a promise that none of them would break. He wouldn't be left behind alone.)

* * *

Sanji was a cook and he also loved all ladies. But all the real meaningful promises he had made had been made to some version of family.

Not that he would say his promises to the many lovely ladies he had met hadn't been meaningful, but they hadn't changed his life too dramatically, not like the ones that had taken over his conscious one at a time over the years.

He had promised Judge that he would leave the Vinsmoke name behind and never claim any kind of affiliation with her Germa nation. This he had done gladly, he had no desire to have anything to do with the bastards. His only brief thoughts of attachment as he grew were for Reijuu, his sister, who he could now clearly see had no way out like he had, trapped in the hell that was their genetic legacy.

He had promised the Shitty Geezer, the man who had become his true father over the years, that he would be the one to find the All Blue. But that same promise had so long been buried under another, that promise that he would make up for the loss of the old man's dream in order to save him.

He had also shared a promise with the same man, that they would feed anyone who was hungry, no matter who they were.

He had also promised his Captain, by virtue of accepting the position of cook on the crew, that he would do his job properly. That everyone on the crew would be properly fed, even if that meant he had to trap the kitchen against said Captain to ensure they still had food to last them.

He had also silently promised that same crew, upon realising he was one of the main fighters, that he would help to protect weaker members of the crew, even if they weren't the lovely ladies.

He had promised that he would survive the hell he had found himself in, get stronger and return to the crew. Because whatever hell he was in, his Captain had gone through worse while they could do nothing.

(His mother had promised that she was feeling better, that his mess of a bento gave him was nice. Even if that wasn't true it gave him the drive to continue cooking.

The Shitty Geezer had implied that the promise that the food he had been given on that shitty rock had only been a small piece of the food available. He had promised that the Baratie would be his home, but he had to push him out onto the sea in order to try for both their dreams.)

* * *

Chopper hadn't had many people to make promises to for a very long time. But those people he had he was happy to make promises to.

He had promised to cure Doctor Hurlik, but he hadn't had the knowledge to do so properly and when he realised what had happened, he promised Doctorine that he would be the Miracle Cure.

He promised that he would do the best he could for all his patients, and very rarely was he unable to help in some way.

He promised to be the best ship doctor he could be, to be useful in helping his friends though there many wounds and few illnesses.

He had promised his Captain and crew that he would stand beside them in protection of their ship and crew, but sometimes the enemy was too much for him to handle and he had to rely on help from others. In response he promised to get stronger braver, so he wouldn't have to do so and distract the others while in their own fights.

He promised, upon seeing his Captain's pain at a wound he didn't yet know how to heal, that he wouldn't allow himself to be so far from another member of the crew when they needed him again. On seeing the promise that their Captain made to meet in two years, he had made a corresponding promise himself, that he would go back, much stronger and more knowledgeable than he had been when they were separated.

(Doctor had promised him, on drinking the medicine he had made for him, that he felt better. Then had blown himself up to keep Chopper being the one to kill him.)


	3. Robin, Franky & Brook

A/N: Almost a year since I wrote the first chapter and the last one is finally done. A little harder to write this one as I'm not really used to writing a couple of them.  
RRina: Thank you.  
sharingankakashi007: That's alright. Thank you so much.

* * *

For 20 years, promises had stopped meaning much to Robin. For the most part they had just been a means to an end, to buy time, to survive against the World Government.

She had promised to join and help many different organisations in those years. Fulfilling those promises so long as they protected her, then running at the first clear sign of treachery against her as the organisation came down behind her.

Though some promises had remained with her, unforgotten through all the treachery and running. She had promised as she had watched Ohara burn, to Clover and the rest of the historians, as well as to herself, that she would find the Rio Poneglyph. That she would find the truth of the Void time in history that had created their current world. But 20 years of disappointment and loneliness had taken its toll on her. Lead her to betting years on a plan with a powerful man and coming up with more of the information that she didn't want. The kind that everyone else wants from the ancient texts but are meaningless on her quest. (She had almost given up, until she had been forced to continue. Forced to keep going. Given hope for more than just that quest.)

When the Government had come for her and the Straw-Hats, she had promised them that she would hand herself over to them, to do anything they wanted her to do, to save the family she had found with the young crew. Then when the crew had come for her anyway, told the world she was _theirs_ , she had promised them that she would live for them.

Now, she looked up from the news of her Captain and promised that she would re-join him with the rest of the crew again. Stronger, more knowledgeable and ready to play her part in the journey for the next Pirate King.

(Saul had promised her that she would find her true friends one day. She hadn't realised how much she still hoped his promise would not be broken until she had found her place on the Straw-Hats.

Until Luffy had promised that she was _theirs_. Until the crew had promised that they would come for her, fight any enemy for her. They had promised that she was their friend.)

* * *

Promises had come and gone with little care in Franky's life. Many he had made had been little and forgotten, whether he had fulfilled them or not, but some remained in his memory.

He along with the Tom's other workers had promised to help save Tom by building the Sea Train. Fourteen years of work on it and it almost worked. (Only to be turned on by the World Government at the last moment. Using his weapons to turn on them all.)

When he had returned after all the mess that was his last attempt to try and save Tom, a new cyborg, to his home and seeing the man who had been his brother helping the Government that had taken so much from them. He had promised in secret that he would leave Cutty Flam behind and protect the Pluton blueprints as Iceburg had asked of him.

He had promised that he would take care of the Family he built around himself from the "trash" of the backstreets. That he would make sure they were looked after to the best of his abilities, for all he was relegated to the underworld boss of Water 7.

He had promised the Straw-Hats, as they had helped to save him from the Government, that he would help them to save Nico Robin. For all the bad blood they had had with each other at their initial meetings, he could respect those that tried to look after their own (as long as it wasn't directly against one of his).

After fighting and surviving alongside this crazy Pirate Crew, after burning the blueprints to protect them from the Government, he promised to build them a new ship to replace the one they had been forced to give a Viking funeral. A dream-ship that would carry them around the world, one he had dreamed of building since Tom had told him about building Oro Jackson. (But his dream had also included sailing on the ship and watching it do incredible things. So, they may have had to trap him into promising to join the crew but they had also given him the chance to fulfill his dream.)

He promised that he would return to make sure that that ship would continue to be the ship of his dreams. (That he would help them do more of the impossible things the crew was becoming so known for.)

(Franky didn't remember many of the promises made to him. Just Tom and the others promising he was one of them. The Straw-Hats silent promise at Enies Lobby that he was one of them too.)

* * *

Brook was old. He had made, broken and forgotten many promises in his lives. But he remembered the important ones.

He had promised Laboon, their little whale friend, that they would meet again coming over from the other side of the Red Line. It had been more than 50 years, and he had worried in that time, in his worst moments, that Laboon would forget or that he would never get there. (But the Straw-Hats had given him hope, that he was still there, that he was still waiting. That he was also waiting for the Straw-Hats now too.)

He had promised to lead the remaining Rumbar pirates after Yorki had left with the other infected crew-mates. (He had only really lead them to their deaths.)

He had promised to carry the Rumbar's Last Song to Laboon. (But he had been stuck for so long.) He still did, it would just take a little longer than any at the time had realised.

He had promised to join the Straw-Hats if he had had his shadow. In response, they had made sure it had been returned to him so he could. (One important promise he had been able to keep.)

He promised that no matter what happened he would return to his new crew. (That he wouldn't lose another one.) They would all be together again.

(The Straw-Hats had all promised him, in their many and varied ways, that he would not be left alone again. Even now, separated as they were they had both kept this promise even if they also hadn't. He knew they would all return again, even if he didn't know exactly how he knew.)


End file.
